Dealing with Unwanted Thoughts

[Daniel E.]

Suppressing the 'white bears'
American Psychological Association
By Lea Winerman
October 2011

Meditation, mindfulness and other tools can help us avoid unwanted thoughts, says social psychologist Daniel Wegner.

...Wegner developed his theory of "ironic processes" to explain why it's so hard to tamp down unwanted thoughts. He found evidence that when we try not to think of something, one part of our mind does avoid the forbidden thought, but another part "checks in" every so often to make sure the thought is not coming up—therefore, ironically, bringing it to mind.

After more than a quarter century of this research, Wegner said, he's realized that when he explains his work, listeners usually follow up with one question: "OK, so what do I do about this? Is there any way to avoid unwanted thoughts?"

The topic rings true for many people, perhaps especially because the thoughts that we often want to avoid are not as innocuous as white bears—they might involve painful memories or other difficult distractions.

In his APA presentation, Wegner described several strategies that he and others have come across to help "suppress the white bears." They include:

• Pick an absorbing distractor and focus on that instead: In one study, Wegner and his colleagues asked participants to think of a red Volkswagen instead of a white bear. They found that giving the participants something else to focus on helped them to avoid the unwanted white bears.
• Try to postpone the thought: Some research has found that asking people to simply set aside half an hour a day for worrying allows them to avoid worrying during the rest of their day, Wegner said. So next time an unwanted thought comes up, he suggested, just try to tell yourself, "I'm not going to think about that until next Wednesday."
• Cut back on multitasking: One study found that people under increased mental load show an increase in the availability of thoughts of death—one of the great unwanted thoughts for most people.
• Exposure: "This is painful," Wegner said, "but it can work." If you allow yourself to think in controlled ways of the thing that you want to avoid, then it will be less likely to pop back into your thoughts at other times.
• Meditation and mindfulness: There's evidence that these practices, which strengthen mental control, may help people avoid unwanted thoughts, Wegner said.

Related articles:
How You Can Overcome Intrusive Thoughts
http://forum.psychlinks.ca/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/17809-those-damn-unwanted-thoughts.html ("most thoughts are intrusive...very few thoughts are produced intentionally")

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Some Thoughts on Intrusive Thoughts
by Charles Boisvert, Ph.D.
November 11, 2011

We all have many thoughts float in and out of our heads every day. Some of our thoughts are experienced as "voluntary" as we choose to think about a given topic. On a drive in a car, for instance, one person might choose to think about places she would like to go on vacation. Other thoughts are experienced as "involuntary" and seem to arise spontaneously in our minds. Some people have a large number of rather negative, worrying intrusive thoughts. These thoughts can trigger negative moods. In addition, for some people, the thoughts themselves become highly distressing. There have been quite a bit of theory, research and clinical strategies developed to help people cope with upsetting intrusive thoughts.

Evaluating our Thoughts
We may believe that our thoughts reflect a personality defect or flaw. We may judge ourselves as being different. We may develop certain beliefs about our thoughts such as:

• No one else can possible have thoughts like this
• If I think it, then it is true
• My thoughts can somehow predict the future
• If I try hard enough, I can stop certain thoughts - I just need to try harder
• I should be able to fully control my thoughts
• If I think certain thoughts, it means I believe them, and therefore I must not be a good person

Common Repetitive or Intrusive Thoughts
We may believe that our thoughts are unique. Below is a list of common thoughts ...

• Making mistakes
• Being phony or morally inferior
• Needing to be perfect
• I'm going to hurt someone
• Becoming contaminated or contract a fatal disease
• Shouting profanity or insulting someone
• Having committed a serious sin
• Accidents or misfortunes happening
• Thinking negative thoughts about God
• Worrying about harm befall one's children
• Being exposed to germs or dangerous toxins

Coping with our Thoughts
Many thoughts that we have are normal and do not become distractions to us. However, sometimes normal intrusive thoughts, such as some of those above, can be misinterpreted as "significant" and then become more noticeable and cause anxiety. Below are some tips for coping with our thoughts.

• Accept your thoughts and don't fight them - the brain will pay less attention to them over time
• Minimize efforts to suppress or stop your thoughts - notice how hard it is to not think of a pink polar bear after telling your brain to "not think of a pink polar bear!"
• Think of yourself not as having unique thoughts but as having repetitive thoughts
• Remind yourself that thoughts themselves are not dangerous
• Remind yourself that thoughts are not facts but information and sometimes random brain activity
• Remind yourself that you don't have to believe your thoughts
• Get distance from your thoughts by just noticing them and not evaluating them
• Tell yourself it's okay to have certain thoughts

In summary, intrusive thoughts can be upsetting but people can change how they react to and relate to these thoughts. As individuals learn to see their intrusive thoughts as less important, the frequency and intensity of these thoughts can greatly diminish.